Facility-related costs
Facility-related costs are comprised of the following:
- Building Depreciation – Clark, like many other institutions, calculates annual depreciation expenses as part of its indirect costs in an effort to associate the cost of facilities with the users of those facilities.
- Equipment Depreciation – Since federally-funded activities benefit from the use of Clark-funded equipment, depreciation on this contribution is calculated annually on all items valued over $5,000 that have been purchased with non-federal monies.
- Interest Expenses – Some Clark facilities have been constructed with funds provided through the issuance of debt. The cost of this debt is the interest portion of annual debt service payments made to our creditors. Occupants of facilities, which were debt financed, including federally-funded research projects, are assessed their share of this interest expense.
- Operations and Maintenance – These costs include the expenses incurred, usually Physical Plant department for the administration, supervision, operation, preservation, and protection of the University’s physical facilities. Examples of this category of costs include custodial services, repair and maintenance, grounds care, energy expenses, maintenance supplies, campus security and property management.
Service-related costs
The service-related component of indirect costs is comprised of one item:
- Library – This includes the total operating costs of the University library for books and library materials
Administrative costs
The third part of indirect costs is comprised of three administrative pools:
- General Administration – This covers the costs of operations of executive and administrative offices such as human resources, general accounting, payroll, purchasing, legal counsel, and the Office of the President.
- Department Administration – This expense includes administrative and supporting services that benefit departmental activities such as dean’s office, academic department heads, and departmental support services. No more than twenty percent of salary can be charged to department administration.
- Sponsored Programs Administration – The activities in this pool exist primarily to administer and service sponsored projects. This includes expenses associated with the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research, Grant Accounting, and other costs related to health and safety issues of research.
